Equipment

Once the ore is out, it must be picked up. This is done by docking at the boulders. A Miner's Cargo Hold is the only way to get all of the ore. Without one, you can only pick up 25% of the ore, and the rest goes to waste.

Asteroids

Mining is done on asteroids, which come in a few varieties. Icy asteroids have poor quality ore, while volcanic ones have higher level ores. Asteroids further into the game can have better ores than ones of the same type in earlier systems.

Most asteroids do not contain ore. It is impossible to determine which asteroids have ore just by looking at them. Multiple shots are often necessary for the ore to be mined out, and an asteroid can have multiple boulders of ore within it. Though some asteroids will not yield ore until 10 or more shots, shooting the same asteroid over and over will waste valuable time and fuel if it turns out to be empty. Finding a balance between these can maximize profit.

Tips

Mining can take a long time. If the system is cleared out enough that you feel safe, turn off your shield, non-mining weapon, and other power-using devices to preserve fuel.

Be careful of station's buying limits when selling ore. A station will pay less for an ore they already have, unless you have more than they do. To get the most out of a station, sell to them until they have one less than the maximum amount you can carry, then come back later with a full cargo hold. As you will likely be getting multiple types of ore in a single run, this can be difficult without mule autons to help carry things or the risk of salvager nomads stealing your items and ore.

In addition to being sold, some ore can be used by tinkers to produce armor. Ores can also be used by Teraton Factories.